Rasmus Mattias Bengtsson (born 26 June 1986) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Starting off his professional career with Trelleborgs FF in 2006, he went on to represent

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

in the German Bundesliga and Twente in the Dutch Eredivise before retiring at his boyhood club Malmö FF in 2021. A full international between 2009 and 2014, he won four caps for the Sweden national team.

Career

Early career

Bengtsson started his career in his home town club Malmö FF. He transferred to

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

side Trelleborgs FF in 2006 after having failed to make into the first team at Malmö FF. Bengtsson made his professional debut for Trelleborg in 2006. During his time in Trelleborg Bengtsson also changed his preferred position from striker to central defender. With Trelleborg he won the Superettan title of

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

as the club were promoted to the first tier of Sweden,

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

. Bengtsson played a further three seasons in Allsvenskan with the club before he departed for German side

in the summer of 2009.

Hertha BSC

In August 2009, Bengtsson transferred to Hertha BSC on a three-year contract. Prior to signing with Hertha, it was claimed that he was close to signing with Italian club

S.S. Lazio Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent ...

. Bengtsson later declared he had no interest in signing for Lazio. When Bengtsson signed for Berlin it upset the Italian club, who claimed that he had already signed with them. Lazio took their case to

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

. Bengtsson only spent one season at the German side as they were relegated from the Bundesliga at the end of the 2009–10 season.

Twente

Bengtsson signed with Dutch Eredivisie side FC Twente on 9 July 2010. He gained a more important role in the Twente defence in the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season after having played more sporadically during his first two seasons at the club. Bengtsson was chosen as Twente's club captain in July 2013 ahead of the 2013–14 season. During his time at Twente, Bengtsson has also played in the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Champions League.

Malmö FF

Bengtsson returned to his youth club Malmö FF on 25 March 2015. He signed a five-year contract lasting until the end of the 2019 season. After the end of the 2020 season, Malmö FF and Bengtsson parted ways. On April 13, 2021, Bengtsson announced via Swedish newspaper Expressen that he had retired. He won three

titles with the club and played in the

2015–16 UEFA Champions League The 2015–16 UEFA Champions League was the 61st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 24th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona were t ...

International career

During the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 compe ...

in Sweden, Bengtsson played all Sweden's four matches from start together with Mattias Bjärsmyr. His first cap for the Swedish senior national team came in a friendly against Mexico in January 2009.

Career statistics

Club

International

Appearances and goals per year

Honours

Trelleborgs FF *

Twente *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* Johan Cruijff Shield:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Malmö FF *

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

References

External links

Malmö FF profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bengtsson, Rasmus 1986 births Living people Footballers from Malmö Swedish footballers Association football defenders Sweden international footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers Malmö FF players Trelleborgs FF players Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Allsvenskan players Superettan players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Eredivisie players Hertha BSC players Hertha BSC II players FC Twente players Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands